My sister Eileen told me there were spots on her mammogram that she was getting a procedure for. I told her don't worry our family doesn't get cancer. I was wrong Eileen did have cancer. She had 2 spots and still managed to joke with me about it, saying that she was so small that they might as well just take the breast. Surgery was set for Oct 14th, 2008. She was upset that her Belize trip would have to be postponed. She felt good and it was hard to believe that this fast growing deadly cancer was in her.
Surgery was on our dad's birthday. At 81 his girlfriend drives him when he goes out of town. She was not feeling well that day, so our dad drove over the mountains by himself the 2 hours to be with Eileen for this surgery. Eileen's surgery went well.
Kathleen, another sister of ours, came to Eileen's the day after surgery to help wash her hair as Eileen wasn't able to raise her arm. Kathleen found Eileen cleaning house. The rest of us sisters, we are 5 sisters, come to Eileen's, She is being the gracious host as always and feeding us. She seems so fine that it is hard to tell that she just had surgery. She jokes with us that since 1 in four get cancer, she took this one for the sisters. She is too much.
Eileen is a perfect happy ending story for breast cancer awareness month. If she did not do her yearly mammogram and follow up quickly on the spots, she could have had a much tougher time with it and we could have lost her. Eileen did gret to Belize the following May and will live to tell her grandchildren about it.
Diamond Springs, CA
